Face Down
by Depps My Husband
Summary: A oneshot songfic around the song “Face Down” by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. summary inside. try it out.


A one-shot song-fic around the song "Face Down" by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. The story revolves around one day, but it also tells within the story how it got to that day. There's one flashback part too, but it's italicized so you shouldn't get lost reading this. Enjoy!

**Hey girl you know you drive me crazy**

It was as simple as walking past him. Accidentally brushing shoulders in the hallways, or even when they both shared a hug after completing a track. The little things drove him wild.

It'd been almost a year since she walked away from the two people she cared about more than anything. After Tommy dumped her at her birthday, Jamie swooped in at the perfect moment. She believed she loved him, but she really loved how he was there for her. Not how she loved Tommy. And when they both fought for her heart, she couldn't think of anything but to walk away from both of them. Deep down, she wanted Tommy, but couldn't stand hurting Jamie. Not after what they went through when Tommy hurt her. She couldn't do it.

Instead she stayed single, keeping as much time away from them as possible, but in the end, Tommy broke through. Darius put him back on Jude's album after she had fired him, and the two got along quite awkwardly at first, but now things were back to normal, because there was another guy in the picture.

**One look puts the rhythm in my hand**

Walking past him, she could see him watching her out of the corner of his eye. She saw the smile that started to grow, and she saw how quickly he covered it up, and when she looked over to him he quickly turned his head, making it so obvious that he was staring at her… again. But she just giggled and went on her way.

She had found her new _'love of her life.'_ His name was Jake. Jake was her everything. He was always so surprising, always dropping in un expectantly, always sending her cute little text's just because, or having flowers sent while she was recording. When they went out it was always some place new. Always some place romantic, some place that made her feel like she couldn't have been more special. That there couldn't be a better person out there for her besides Jake.

**Still I'll never understand why you hang around**

Tommy hated him. At first, Jude paid no attention to it. She would give little remarks that she knew he wouldn't because it wasn't him. After seven months with Jake, now it did start to bother her. The past six weeks had changed. His comments about Jake came more often, and Jude actually felt bad for him. They'd spend all day in the studio like old times, but Jake would show up and it'd be over. She saw the heartbreak on his face. It killed her to leave him like that.

His comments weren't the only things that had changed. Jake did. His parents had gotten a divorce and he got laid off at work all at the same time. His sister's boyfriend got in a car crash, and bad thing after bad thing kept going wrong in his life. It affected Jude now too.

**I see what's going down**

His eyes never left her as she walked out of the studio. Tommy knew damn well she was on her way to see Jake. He knew the situation she was in, but couldn't act on it without any proof. He did what he could though, let her know if she wanted to talk, he was there, give Jake stare down's whenever he came around. Jude was getting beat, and that creep was the one who was doing it.

**Cover up with make up in the mirror**

And she was so innocent in the situation. She didn't know how to handle it. Her lies sucked, she couldn't act happy anymore, and day by day, a part of her died inside. Tommy could remember it perfectly. That horrible day six weeks ago.

_"Jude!" he yelled from outside of the girls bathroom. "We're on a time schedule with this album ya know? It'd be nice to get to work." When there was no answer, he shook his head and welcomed himself inside, and was shocked to find her standing up at the mirror._

"Quincy!" she shrieked, surprised he came in. Dropping the make up she held in her hand in the sink below her she put her head down to avoid looking at him. "What are you doing in here? This is the girls room."

"You're putting make up on? That's why you've been in here for almost an hour?" he asked, walking over to her. "You just got back from being with Jake, who are you dollin' up for now?"

"No one." She muttered while stealing a glance to her face, seeing that the bruise under her eye wasn't too visible. She quickly dabbed a little bit more of cover up and looked back up while covering over the "love" mark Jake had left. "I just had some… my mascara ran when we were at the park. Jake splashed me with water from the fountain and my make up ran all over the place."

He eyed her curiously, and Jude watched him through the mirror. She knew he didn't believe her, but anything was better than the truth. The truth to how all she did was reschedule a date they had later that week. He accused her of cheating, and she told him how she'd been avoiding getting out her new single, and that only led to her being a "lying bitch" and a punch across the face. He didn't even apologize, just walk away to grab his keys and drive her home.

"Well…" words left him, knowing something was up. Why had she lied to him? He splashed her so bad her make up got that messed up, but her clothes were still dry? It didn't make sense, but he didn't want to push her. "Lets just get this single out, okay?"

She nodded. "I'll be there in a minute. I promise." And with those words, he nodded back to her, and walked out of the bathroom, leaving Jude to cope with the situation she was in alone.

**Tell yourself it's never gonna happen again**

_With both palms resting on the sink, she stared herself down in the mirror, still slightly seeing the bruise. The pain however, wasn't just under her eye, but in her heart. The man she believed she loved, had hit her._

"This was just letting steam off. He's not that kinda guy." She told herself. "This will not happen again."

**You cry alone and then he swears he loves you**

_But her words weren't enough. She was torn by this. Tears slowly leaked from her eyes, but she wiped them away, careful not to smear the cover up. The only thing holding her together at that moment were Jake's departing words when he dropped her off at G-Major, only twenty minutes ago._

I love you.

**A pebble in the water makes a ripple effect**

Taking a chance, instead of watching her walk out to another beating, he too walked out of the studio in search of her. Outside G-Major the sidewalks were filled with random people carrying shopping bags and talking on cell phones, but none were Jude. He looked toward the parking lot and saw the back of her car driving down the street and a feeling in his gut yelled to him where she was going; and this time it wasn't with Jake.

The day was quiet. You couldn't hear the wind, or traffic, or even birds chirping where she was. Jude needed the quiet though. She needed to think, and since Patsy had brought her here almost two years ago, this was her place to think over her choices she had made. It was where she found herself after walking out on Jamie and Tommy. Where she found herself when her mom finally came home. She even found herself there when she realized her feelings for Tommy never died. But most of all, she'd spent more time at the beach since Jake started to beat her. Six weeks… and almost every day she was there.

Tommy had too found that beach as a great spot to clear your mind, and had shown up a few times finding Jude there. Never once did he stop to talk to her. He would stay back and watch over her. This time was different. She'd been getting more and more distant from him and he couldn't stand it. Doing the only thing he could think of, he walked up to her, instead of standing back and watching.

"Hey," he softly greeted, joining her at her side.

Her head quickly turned to him, not expecting him to have followed her. "Hey. What are you doing here?"

"Just making sure you're okay." He told her, cutting straight to the chase. "Are you?"

**Every action in this world will bear a consequence**

Her head dropped, avoiding his question because her answer would be another lie. Another day's excuse. Another beating she would go through because she's kept her mouth shut the past six weeks. She couldn't put Jake in trouble though. He's been the only one there for her since she walked away.

"I'm here for you, girl." Tommy gently set his hand on her shoulder, getting her attention back to him. "You can talk to me."

"I know." She replied through tears she wouldn't let go.

He sighed, "Look, Jude I know I messed up with the whole Angie thing. I know I should have talked to you. I shouldn't have let you walk away from me." Taking her hands with his own, Tommy stood in front of her, continuing saying what he should have ten months ago. "I meant it. When I said I'd do anything for you. You gotta let me in girl."

Again her head dropped, and tears began to fall. "You know, don't you?" she spoke to the ground. Seconds later, she felt Tommy kiss the top of her head, and now the tears ran freely—quietly, but she wasn't holding back anymore.

"Let me in, Jude." He whispered next to her ear.

In a small, barely audible, almost non-existent voice, she confessed, "He hits me." A sob followed after as she became so weak to barely stand up. "God," she choked out, "he hits me."

He didn't need another word spoken, or move to be made, or sign of what to do next. His arms wrapped around her as she cried into his chest, finally letting the last six weeks out. "Shh," he whispered, running his hand up and down her back. "It's okay. I'm here. He's not gonna touch you again. He's not gonna touch you again."

**If you wade around forever you will surely drown**

"He loves me."

"No. No, Jude he doesn't. I love you, I care about you, what Jake has is not love. He doesn't love you."

"He told me," she cried. "I know he does."

His heart was breaking for her. The girl he held in his arms was the one that was around before Jake came into the picture. The girl before she started getting beat. "You gotta tell the police. You gotta—"

"No!" she cut him off, breaking away from his hold. "No. I'm not getting him sent to jail."

"Jude do you see what he's turned you into?"

She sighed, panicking over the situation. "Just… Let me see if he's still like that—he's just been under a lot of stress and… He's gonna be fine. Me and him are gonna be fine."

"That's bull, and you know it. You know you're not gonna be fine, you know—gees Jude, this isn't something to wait around on." He stressed, "If you don't tell the police I will."

"Tommy—"

"I'm not gonna see you get hurt anymore."

She scoffed, "Oh really? That's only your job right?"

"You know damn well that's not the same. I would never hurt you like Jake has."

"You don't know anything Tommy!"

**I see what's going down**

"What I do know, Jude, I know you're not the same girl anymore. I see the change in your eyes when he walks in the room. I see the hesitance in your steps when you walk with him out of the studio. I see the fake smile you put on your face to please him when you'd rather be crying to get away."

Her arms were crossed over her chest as she took everything in. She knew he was right. She knew every part of her wanted nothing more than to suck it up and agree with him, but that meant losing Jake.

**I see the way you go and say your right again, say your right again**

"Maybe you need to get your eyes checked then." She told him. "You're wrong Tommy."

"You flat out told me he hits you!"

"Yeah, well I was lying!" she yelled.

His eyes stared straight into hers, seeing the sadness. "Show me your arms." He whispered.

"What?" she asked, as if he were crazy.

"I know you have bruises, girl. I know, okay? Just accept it." He told her, taking a few steps toward her. "If you don't want to go to the cops, we won't. But you can't keep going to him and coming home hurt."

She was crying again, and the weakness slowly came back to her. Her arms became uncrossed as she leaned in to Tommy again.

**Heed my lecture**

"I have to end it." She breathed out.

With his arms around her, he kissed the top of her head again. "I'll be right there."

"No." she quickly replied. "I have to do this myself."

"Jude are you sure—"

She nodded, breaking out of his embrace. "Just… drive me there? Wait outside to drive me home?"

"Of course."

**Face down in the dirt she says, this doesn't hurt, she says I finally had enough… **

Tommy parked outside Jake's house as he watched Jude make her way up to the door, full of strength and ready to get this over with. She knocked twice and only waited a few seconds before the door opened and she was greeted by Jake. He put a smile on his face, happy to see her, and she did the same, but unlike his, hers was fake.

"What are you doing here, babe?" he asked, holding the door open for her to come inside.

"Uh," she quickly glanced over her shoulder, unsure of whether to go inside or not. "I needed to talk to you."

Jake looked out in the street and saw Tommy in the car. Having an idea of where this conversation she had planned was going, he took her arm and directed her inside. "Come on in. We'll talk inside." And with that, she let him pull her in, and watched as the door closed, separating her world from Tommy.

"What's Quincy doing out there?" he asked.

Jude had her mouth open to reply, but words weren't making their way out. She couldn't think of what to say or what lie to tell to give a good reason to why another man brought her to her boyfriends house to tell him something.

"I'm not in the mood for this today Jude." He said in a voice she recognized too much. It was a voice she only heard in her nightmares. A voice when he was angry. A voice when he would beat her.

"He brought me by 'cause I had to talk to you and I didn't have my car with me. I didn't drive today."

It didn't take long for him to see the lie. It didn't take long for his hand to slap across her cheek either. "Strike one."

Her own hand came to her face, covering the pain he caused her as she tumbled into the couch. Used to the hit, she was able to keep her balance and stay up, knowing the consequences of falling down.

**Face down in the dirt she says, this doesn't hurt, she says I finally had enough…**

"Wanna try this again? I told you I'm not in the mood for your crap today."

Standing up straighter, she briefly looked his way before going with the truth. "I asked him to bring me over."

"For what? What the hell do you have to talk to me about, Jude? That you're sleeping with Quincy?!"

"No!" she quickly replied, but it wasn't fast enough. He had slapped her again, catching her so off guard she fell over onto the couch.

"Strike two!" he shouted.

Outside, Tommy watched the house carefully for any sudden movement. His ears were open for any scream, but nothing came from Jude loud enough that Tommy could hear, however Jake was just loud enough. Yelling wasn't good, he knew that, so without any hesitance he quickly got out of his car and made a run for the door.

Jake walked around the couch and before Jude could push herself up, he pushed her back down, placing his hand on the back of her neck to hold her there. "Think I'm stupid? Huh?!" he asked, pushing down harder.

"It doesn't hurt anymore." She cried. "It doesn't hurt."

Hearing her clearly he pushed down harder then quickly let go and stood up. "It doesn't hurt?" he asked, not in too loud of a tone, "Get up!" but all she did was move her face from the cushion.

**One day she will tell you that she has had enough, its coming round again.**

Shaking her head at him, more tears left her eyes. "No."

He sardonically laughed. "Excuse me?" his foot kicked a nearby table, "Excuse me?!"

"I've had enough of this!" she shouted, sitting up straighter.

His fist quickly made contact with the side of her face. The impact threw her body to lay back on the couch and roll onto the floor, the worst position in the world. His foot however was only thrown into her stomach once, before his front door flew open.

**Do you feel like a man, when you push her around?**

Jude's crying was the first to enter his ears, and the sight of Jake was the first to enter his eyes.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Tommy shouted, making his way further into Jake's home. As he came around to the scene of where he and Jude were, he almost went into shock. Jude was laying on the ground, crying, holding her stomach, holding on.

"Does this make you feel like a man?!" Tommy asked as he walked closer to Jake. At first Jake stood strong, not thinking anything of Tommy, but once he was in close enough radius, Tommy shoved him back. "How do you like being pushed around?!"

Jake tripped over the table he had previously kicked over earlier and fell to the ground. Thinking Jake was taken care of Tommy hurried to Jude's side, seeing her trying to help herself up. He held out his hand that she openly took and pulled her up.

"God," he sighed, seeing the redness on the side of her face where Jake had slapped her. "It's gonna be okay, Jude."

Still crying, she bit her bottom lip and nodded, agreeing with him. "Okay." She squeaked out. "Okay."

**Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?**

Neither noticed Jake get up. Neither noticed him come up from behind Tommy and when he did, he pushed him over the coffee table and onto the ground. Jude screamed, scared of Tommy getting hurt, but her fear subsided to that, and fell onto worse matters. Jake standing in front of her.

"Is this what you wanted, Jude?!" Jake shouted, roughly grabbing her shoulders. "Is this how you wanted things to end?!"

"No." she cried through tears as he continued to shake her.

Seeing Tommy get up from the floor, Jake shoved Jude away, not bothering to watch her fall to the floor… again.

Once on both feet, he didn't hesitate. After watching the person he cared about more than anything fall to the ground, nothing was going to stop him. His fist flew across Jake's jaw so hard he thought it broke. "You ever touch her again, you'll wish I'd of killed you!" Tommy threatened. "Do you like watching her get hurt?!" he asked, staring down at Jake, who stared up at Tommy, blood starting to fill his mouth. "Does it make you feel good about yourself?!"

"Tommy, stop." Jude pleaded, watching the scene.

"Does it?!" he demanded, throwing his own foot into Jake's stomach like Jake had done earlier to Jude.

"Tommy!" she cried. "Please, stop."

**Well I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's going to end**

Tommy looked over to Jude, and saw the need to leave in her eyes. He looked back to Jake, and saw the guy wasn't going to fight them off anymore. "Tell him good bye Jude. You're not seeing this loser ever again."

Jake shook his head, "Jude, babe, don't listen to him."

"Shut up!" Tommy yelled, cutting him off.

"Jude, I love you, you know that. C'mon baby don't do this."

Sorrow was in her eyes, and Tommy could see she was thinking about staying with him. He knew her too well. "Jude, say good bye." He told her, making his way to her side and taking her hand. "Say good bye."

"I can't." she choked out.

"You have to. You can do this. You can do it."

Tears in her eyes, and with a broken heart she looked to Tommy, then to Jake. Her gaze fell to the floor, hating the words about to leave her mouth. "It's over Jake. I've had enough."

**As your lies crumble down**

Proud of her, Tommy smiled, while turning her to go out the door, and leave Jake in the past for good. Before Tommy left however, he looked back to Jake one last time. "You ever go near her, I swear to God, I'll beat you so bad you'll wish I'd of rather killed you."

"I love her." He replied, but Tommy only laughed.

"You don't love her man. Quit lying to her, and yourself."

"I'm not lying." Jake eyed him, "I love her."

"No. I do." And Tommy closed the door behind him, leaving Jude's past seven months locked inside.

**A new life she has found.**

It had been one of the longest days either could remember, and as they sat in the kitchen at Tommy's place, they couldn't help but feel uncomfortable around each other. So much had happened, so much hurt and so much love. Jude didn't know what to think of the day. There she was sitting on his kitchen counter as he put together an ice pack for her.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you before." She said, breaking the quiet.

His head turned to her direction, but then quickly went back to filling the bag with ice. "You shouldn't have to apologize. I should've talked to you about it when I first suspected things." He replied, closing the bag and walking over to her.

"Thanks." She took the bag from him and set it over her cheek. Silence filled the air again as Tommy stood there, watching her, and she sat there watching him. "If you won't let me be sorry for that, at least let me be sorry for walking away."

He eyed her, unsure of what she meant. "Walking away?"

"From you and Jamie. Last year… I couldn't hurt Jamie by choosing you, so I walked away from both of you. I wanted you, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you." And her gaze fell to the floor, as the rush of tears built up again.

"Jude," he began, but didn't know what to say.

She brought her gaze back up to him. "None of this would have happened if I went with what my heart said to do." Her hand grabbed his. "I missed out on a good thing for a really bad one."

Tommy's gaze now fell to the floor, as her words sunk in. Looking back up, he knew just how to answer. Slowly and gently he leaned in and placed a soft kiss upon her lips. She didn't fight him off, but kissed him back for the few seconds that his lips laid on hers. Breaking away he pressed his forehead against her own.

"Girl, I told you. I'm always here for you." He whispered.

"Yeah?" she questioned, her crying dying down.

He nodded. "I told you. I love you. After everything, I never let go."

A real smile, for the first time almost all day, came across her lips. "I didn't either." She whispered back. And those three words were the start of her new life. A life that she wouldn't get beat up in. A life with Tommy. A life with someone she really loved.


End file.
